Ranchi, Nov. 25: In a representation to the Union heavy industries ministry, Heavy Engineering Corporation today demanded the allocation of Rs 60 crore as working capital along with committed work orders aggregating Rs 450 crore to help it pull out of the red.
The HEC representation, if approved by the Centre, is to be put up before the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction, which is slated to hear the case, including a closure option, in Delhi tomorrow.
Sources said in its representation, HEC has pointed out that it needs a yearly work order commitment of around Rs 450 crore to break even.
They added the company has pointed out that the defence establishment, along with the Steel Authority of India Limited and Coal India Limited, has been handing out work orders worth thousands of crores every year, of which a portion could be given to HEC.
The HEC representation said additional resources could be generated through rentals from land and buildings leased out to the Jharkhand government. It demanded that the Centre direct the state government to pay Rs 135 crore a year as lease rent for the buildings housing the Assembly, secretariats and other state offices in the HEC township.
HEC has also demanded that it be given the rights to dispose of all its unused land aggregating more than 3,500 acres at “negotiated values” to generate resources.
It strongly contested the Jharkhand State Electricity Board’s claim of unpaid bills of over Rs 393 crore. In its representation, the company has conceded that its dues are around Rs 123 crore only.
Contrary to the HEC proposals, the company’s officers’ association, in its representation to the Centre, has demanded that HEC be either merged with the defence ministry or at least 51 per cent of the equity be distributed among its employees with a chairman to head the board chosen from among them.
The Jharkhand government has also fixed a review meeting at Ranchi tomorrow to discuss HEC. The Assembly recently passed a resolution for the revival of the company under which it had suggested that land in the possession of the corporation be leased out to private parties.
